Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Heavyweight

Dec 30, 2008

Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Fedor Emelianenko

Heavyweight

1. Fedor
Emelianenko (28-1, 1 NC)
If there has been one criticism of MMA’s premier heavyweight, it’s
that Emelianenko has not met the best of his contemporaries over
the last three years. He responded with a 36-second thrashing of
Tim
Sylvia in July, and he will look to further prove his supremacy
over the division on Jan. 24 when he takes on another former UFC
heavyweight champion, Andrei
Arlovski, in the Affliction “Day of Reckoning” headliner.

2. Andrei
Arlovski (14-5)
This year offered Arlovski a great opportunity to rebuild himself,
and he did so brilliantly. With his knockouts of Ben Rothwell
and Roy
Nelson, he has earned himself the biggest fight of his career
-- a meeting with the sport’s finest heavyweight, Emelianenko, in
the main event of Affliction’s sophomore effort on Jan. 24.

3. Josh Barnett
(23-5)Gilbert
Yvel will be next for Barnett at Affliction “Day of Reckoning,”
should the California State Athletic Commission choose to forgive
the dirty Dutchman’s past indiscretions. The real prize for catch
wrestling’s proudest proponent, provided Barnett wins, would be a
showdown with the winner of the Emelianenko-Arlovski bout.

4. Frank Mir
(12-3)
In a fight that he was almost universally counted out of, the
former UFC champion turned in the best performance of his career,
technically trumping Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira en route to becoming the first man to ever
stop “Minotauro.” Now, sometime in 2009, Mir will have to duplicate
his February win over Brock
Lesnar to become the UFC’s undisputed heavyweight king.

5. Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira (31-5-1, 1 NC)
Nogueira, the early favorite in the UFC’s ad hoc heavyweight
tournament, turned in a woeful performance against Mir, who
completely took apart the former Pride heavyweight champion before
finishing him off with punches in the second round. He’s still a
top heavyweight, but Nogueira has a long way to go to erase
memories of such a lopsided loss.

6. Brock
Lesnar (3-1)
With the first legs of the UFC’s heavyweight tournament over,
Lesnar will have the chance to make an enormous statement in just
his fifth professional bout. He will take on Mir -- the man who
handed him his first career loss at UFC 81 -- in a UFC heavyweight
title unification match.

7. Randy
Couture (16-9)
Couture’s post-retirement run came to a screeching halt in his
first post-resignation bout, as he returned to the Octagon for the
first time in 15 months and was knocked out by Lesnar in the second
round at UFC 91. The defeat left questions about what “The Natural”
has left in the tank.

8. Tim Sylvia
(24-5)
There’s no clear next step for Sylvia. The two-time UFC champion’s
looking to drum up interest from Japanese promoters, as well as
chasing a potentially lamentable bout with elder statesman Ken Shamrock,
who would hardly offer Sylvia real competition.

9. Ben Rothwell
(29-6)
A bout with Pedro Rizzo at
Affliction’s Jan. 24 show did not materialize. Instead, Rothwell
got in a tidy tune-up bout, bashing an overmatched Chris
Guillen at Adrenaline MMA’s second event on Dec. 11.